Door frame construction



Feb. 10, 1959 J. O. KILLEBREW DOOR FRAME CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 24,1956 Jessie 0. K/l/ebrew INVEN TOR.

BY .dm v

United States Patent- O DOOR FRAME CONSTRUCTION Jessie 0. Killebrew,Albuquerque, N. Mex. Application January 24, 1956, Serial No. 561,007 4Claims. (Cl. 20-11) This invention generally relates to a door frameconstruction and more specifically a door frame adapted to be massproduced, preassembled and then easily installed in a building.

An object of the present invention is to provide a door frame unit whichmay be preassembled and shipped to the desired location, after which thepreassembled unit may be easily installed in a wall opening wherein theconcept of the invention involves the fitting of the opening to the doorframe rather than the door frame to the opening whereby the door anddoor frame have a proper predetermined relationship thereby overcomingthe problem of slight variations in wall thickness and alignment withoutthe necessity of altering any of the structural elements such as byplaning or sawing as normally occurs when hanging a door.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a door frameconstruction including a detachable one-piece trim unit having miteredcorners which are joined together by a novel joint constructionincorporating wedge shaped grooves in the outer corner of the miteredends together with a wedge shaped insert having glue on the surfacesthereof for retaining the mitered ends in abutting relation therebyforming a rigid mitered joint at each corner of the trim unit.

Other objects of the present invention will reside in its extremesimplicity of construction, ease of installation, adaptation for itsparticular purposes, adaptation to mass production methods and itsrelatively inexpensive manufacturing costs.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequent apparent reside in the details of construction and operationas more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numeralsrefer to like parts throughout, and in which Figure 1 is an elevationalview illustrating the door frame unit of the present invention installedin a wall opening;

Figure 2 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 2P2 of Figure 1 illustrating the position ofthe door jamb, trim unit and adjacent portions of the wall construction;

Figure 3 is a detailed front view of the door jamb with the trim unitsremoved illustrating the continuity of the groove in the front edgethereof;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passingalong section line 4-4 of Figure 1 illustrating the specific structuraldetails of the mitered joint and the wedge shaped insert therein; and

Figure 5 is an exploded group perspective view of the joint constructionand illustrating the details of the ele ments thereof.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral generallydesignates the door frame construction of the present inventionincluding a conventional door 12 and a door frame generally designatedby the numeral 14 which includes a door jamb 16 to which is hingedlyattached the door 12 by suitable hinge means 18. Any suit able latchmechanism generally designated by the numeral 20 may be employed andforms no particular part of the present invention. As illustrated, thedoor jamb 16 errtends around three sides of the door 12 in theconventional manner and is disposed in spaced relation to the studding22 of a wall generally designated by the numeral 24 wherein the wall 24includes some type of lathing 26 and a coating of plaster 328 thereon.Disposed between the studding 22 and the door jamb 16 is a wedge space30 whereby the door jamb 16 may be properly positioned in relation tothe studding 22 thereby rigidly mounting the door jamb 16 in the usualmanner.

Each edge of the door jamb 16 is provided with a longitudinal groove 32extending throughout the length thereof and as illustrated in Figure 3,the grooves 22 are continuous completely around the door jamb 16.

A pair of continuous trim members 34 are provided which are alsocontinuous about the entire periphery of the door jamb members 16. Thetrim unit 34 may be provided with any suitable trim pattern 36 asdesired and the inner edge thereof is provided with an inwardlyextending longitudinal tongue 38 adjustably disposed within thelongitudinal groove 32 thereby providing a finish to the outer edges ofthe door jamb 16. With the trim unit 34 being disposed in perpendicularrelation to the surfaces of the door jamb 16, it will be seen that thetrim unit 34 will engage opposite surfaces of the wall 24 and willpermit the installation of the door frame construction in wall openingsof walls having slight variations in thickness.

As illustrated in Figure 2, a conventional door stop member 40 isprovided on the inner surface of the door jamb member 16 for forming astop for the door 12 for limiting the movement thereof in the usualmanner.

The trim unit construction is continuous and includes a mitered jointgenerally designated by the numeral 42 for joining the side parts andthe top part wherein each of the side parts of the trim unit 34 and eachend of the top part of the trim unit 34 is provided with a miter 44. Ateach outer corner of the mitered end 44 is an inwardly extending groove46 defined by inwardly converging walls 48 whereby the groove 46 issubstantially triangular in shape. An insert 50 having inwardlyconverging side walls 52 is disposed in the grooves 46 and the walls 52of the insert 50 are covered with an adhesive prior to insertion in thegrooves 46 whereby the entire adhesive coated 'surface of the wall 52will be disposed in intimate contact with the walls 48 of the groove 46thereby rigidly bonding all of the elements of the trim unit 34 intorigid relation with the inserts 50 completely filling the grooves 46. Itis noted that the insert 50 is substantially right angular in shape andis equal in area to the adjacent pair of grooves 46 thereby eliminatingany looseness in the joint 42.

With the present construction, the production of a onepiece trim unit bysplining the mitered trim parts together has been accomplished and thespecial wedge shaped spline or insert which is dipped in glue and shovedinto the V-shaped grooves carries in the glue which facilitates theapplying of the glue and also tightens itself in the groove whicheliminates the necessity of clamping the glued joint. The trim for theseunits is joined in a separate operation and the glue is curedelectrically by a. wood welder. The trim units having the tongues 38which fit into the grooves in the edge of the door jamb 16 eliminate thenumerous problems arising in the field from slight variations in wallthicknesses and alignment. This generally results in a small crackbetween the jamb and the trim which occurred under the old practice ofapplying the trim flat against the jamb edge. With this construction,there is no necessity for laboriously altering the finished wall, thetrim, the door jamb or all three.

position of the trimin relation to'the'doon jamb-thereby eliminating theneeessary'steps-and-usualstepsof meas'ur ing, marking and applyingseparatetrim pieces untilthe desired relationship is established.

The present door frame unit is installed'rather simply since the door,hardware and. other component parts of the unit is assembled at afactory by employing a' temporary wooden spreader which together with:the hingeshold the door and the frame in the proper, location to eachother and prevent the frame sidesfrom spreading during shipment; One ofthe trim unit's and the door stop is only temporarily nailed since thedoor stop is necessarily adjusted finally after the-door framehas beeninstalled and the one trim unit permits the door jamb 16 to be-installedafter the trim unit has been removed. With the one trim unit removed,the remainder of the unit maybe inserted in the wall opening and theother trim may be attached by nailing it to the finished wall surface.This establishes the door and frame unit in its relationship to the wallframing and the door may now be opened for completion of theinstallation which includes the usual method of blocking the jamb moresecurely to the door buck or studding; The remaining or separated trimunit is then applied and nailed into place and the door stop-is finallypositioned in the desired position for proper operationof the door. Theseparable door stop permits any warpage of the door jamb or the door tobe compensated for thereby giving a proper tit and bearing surface tothe door. This assembly permitsa relatively inexpensive construction andfacilitates the installation thereof whereby the usual arduous task ofhanging a door has been extremely simplified and the time required toproperly install a door has been reduced toan absolute minimum.

With the door jamb 16 fixedly attached to the other trim 34 and the onetrim unit removed, the other trim unit will engage the wall surface forpositioning and aligning the door jamb in the door opening. Theadjustment permitted by the interengaged grooves and tongues permits theunit to be installed in openings in a standard wall wherein the wall hasslight variations of thicknesses which normally occur in buildingconstruction. This 2l(l-- justment also permits the door jamb to beproperly aligned with the wall regardless of variations in inciinationof the wall. While the terminology in which the device is described asbeing installed in walls of diiiercnt r thicknesses is adequate, it ispointed out that the device will not fit different standard wallthicknesses but only slight variations or. differences in a singlestandardwvall thickness which is a generally accepted major problem infield conditions in the building industry.

The foregoing is considered asillustrative only of the principles of theinvention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A joint comprising a pair of members disposed in intersectingrelation, the adjacent end of each member having an inwardly extendingtransverse wedge-shaped groove having inwardly converging side walls,said grooves being in alignment, and a wedge-shaped insert havinginwardly converging side walls disposed in said grooves for joining themembers, the adjacent ends being mitered with the grooves disposed atthe outer corner thereof and being generally triangular in shape, saidinsert being generally triangular in shape and equal in area to saidgrooves thereby completely filling said grooves, and an adhesive coatingon said insert for bonding the insert to the walls of the groovesthereby forming a rigid mitered joint.

2. A preassembled door unit comprising a door, a door jamb, andadjustable trim members engaged with the edges of the door jamb andadapted to be attached to opposite surfaces of an adjacent wall, saidtrim having an inturned tongue on the inner edge thereof and said jambhaving a groove in the edges thereof adjustably receiving said tonguefor permitting the unit to be employed with walls of differentthicknesses, said trim members having preassembled mitered outsidecorners with each mitered end having a groove therein with an insertsecured to and interconnecting the mitered ends, said grooves andinserts being substantially transversely wedge shaped and provided withconverging side wall surfaces thereby forming a rigid joint.

3. A joint comprising a pair of members disposed in intersectingrelation, the adjacent ends of said members having an inwardly extendinggroove defined by longitudinally extending side wall surfaces, said sidewall surfaces converging downwardly and inwardly, and an insert in saidgrooves for joining the members, said insert having longitudinallyextending side wall surfaces, said side wall surfaces of the insertconverging laterally towards the inner edge thereof for surface tosurface contactwith the side wall surfaces of the groove throughoutsubstantially the entire surface area thereof.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said side wall surfaces of theinsert are coated with adhesivematerial for bonding with the side wallsurfaces of the groove for forming a rigid joint, the complementaryconverging side wall surfaces of the groove and insert permittinginsertion of the coated insert into the groove without wiping theadhesive coating from the insert and without deforming the grooves orinsert.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

